1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the manufacture of extruded and cut multi-ingredient food products and especially to extruded and cut hand-held and stick-held frozen confections.
2. Description of Prior Art
Conventional methods for producing extruded and cut frozen confections depend on the extruded material to be soft and of uniform consistency. Any non-uniform discrete material such as nuts or peanuts, in the prior art, extrusion material, caused the cutting device, in the process of segmenting the extrusion into separate confections, to impinge on the discrete material in an elastic collision, rather than the perceived inelastic collision which occurs when the cutting device passes thru soft uniform extrusion material. The elastic collision being destructive to the cut edge of the frozen confections, precluded the addition of discrete material in the prior art extrusion methods. In addition conventional methods for producing extruded and cut stick-held frozen confections depended on the extruded material to be soft and of uniform consistency. Any discrete material such as nuts or peanuts in the prior art extrusion material caused the stick, in the process of post extrusion insertion, to impinge on the discrete material in an elastic collision, rather than the perceived inelastic collision which occurs when a stick is inserted into soft uniform extrusion material. The elastic collision being destructive to the integrity of the frozen confection precluded the addition of discrete material in the conventional extrusion methods for producing extruded and cut stick-held frozen confections.
Idealy the discrete material should be in the extrusion, but not in the area traversed by the cutting device in the process of segmenting the extrusion, or in the area which will be occupied by a stick in post extrusion stick insertion.
Prior art attempts to isolate the discrete material from the cutting device by including the discrete material in a filling material which is then completely enclosed in a coating material depend on converging flow terminators to affect the desired intermittent flow of the filling material. These converging flow terminating methods in the act of terminating the flow of the filling material containing discrete items such as peanuts, either damage the discrete material, or become jammed, or do not seal completely when attempting to close on to the discrete material, thus resulting in an unacceptable high product scrap rate. A prior art method which encloses a soft uniform material within another soft uniform material using a converging flow terminator, is taught by Svengren in U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,580. Apr. 21, 1987
To circumvent the problems associated with including discrete material in the extruded and cut frozen confection, conventional methods use subsequent devices to add discrete material such as peanuts to the exterior of an extruded and cut confection base of uniform consistency, usually as the extruded and cut base is moved forward by some conveyor mechanism to receptive discrete material dispensing devices which employ gravity or other impinging methods to attach the discrete material to the exterior of the extruded and cut confection base. In addition prior art methods employ subsequent devices to firmly attach the discrete material to the exterior of the extruded and cut confection base usually as it moves forward by some conveyor device to a chocolate enrobing machine, the enrobing chocolate as it congeals, seals and firmly cements the discrete material to the extruded and cut confection base. One such process is taught by Getman in U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,905. Feb. 17, 1987
Conventional techniques for including discrete material in frozen confections by attaching the discrete material to the surface of an extruded and cut confection base suffer from a number of disadvantages:
(A) The subsequent attaching of discrete material to the surface of an extruded and cut confection base requires costly devices that take up considerable conveyor space and are correspondingly expensive to maintain. PA1 (B) Attaching the discrete material to the surface of an extruded and cut base, does because of its nature, usually result in a percentage of the costly discrete material being irrecoverably lost during the process. PA1 (C) Attaching the discrete material to the surface of an extruded and cut base does because of the inconsistency in the amount of material adhering to the surface, requires that an excess of the costly discrete material be used to assure that the product remains within the U.S. Government labeling specifications for ingredients and weight. PA1 (D) Attaching the discrete material to the surface of an extruded and cut base can expose the frozen confection to the entrapment of air-borne pathogens due to the successive layering of ingredients as the product progresses forward by conveyor from one station to another. PA1 (E) Attaching the discrete material to the surface of an extruded and cut base depends on uniform, dry, and non-sticky discrete material, thus precluding strawberries, cherries, and other desirable ingredients. PA1 (F) The successive layering with discrete material and subsequent coating of prior art frozen confections leave the finished product with an uneven rough finish preventing any printed designs, screening, or added information on the surface of the completed confection. PA1 (A) To provide a process for producing extruded and cut frozen confection containing discrete material such as peanuts within the envelope of the extruded and cut frozen confection. PA1 (B) To provide a smaller less labor intensive machine requiring a fraction of the conventional conveyor space to produce extruded and cut frozen confections containing discrete material such as peanuts. PA1 (C) To provide an extrusion method for placement of discrete material within an extruded frozen confection but not in the area traversed by the cutter mechanism in the process of segmenting the extrusion into extruded and cut frozen confections. PA1 (D) To provide an extrusion method for placement of discrete material within an extruded and cut frozen confection but not in the area traversed by the cutter mechanism in the process of segmenting the extrusion, and not in the area for subsequent stick insertion for a stick-held frozen confection. PA1 (E) To provide an extruded and cut frozen confection containing discrete material, wherein the cut frozen confection has smooth surfaces suitable for accepting subsequent applied lettering, decorations, or designs thereon. PA1 (F) To provide a uniform multi-ingredient extruded and cut frozen confection, resulting in less rejection loss where rejection loss occurs due to failure to meet package labeling specifications of ingredients and weight. PA1 (G) To provide a method for producing extruded and cut frozen confections containing discrete material such as peanuts, capsules, nuts, cherries, strawberries, or other ingredients, without inflicting damage to the discrete material in the process of extruding and cutting the extrusion into individual confections. PA1 (H) To provide a process without converging parts, for converting a flow of a material in a conduit, to an intermittent flow downstream in the conduit, and particularly adaptable to the manufacture of extruded and cut multi-ingredient frozen food products containing discrete material such as edible solids within a soft uniform base material.